Chapter 10- Vampire-normal
The next few weeks passed quite uneventfully, which was a relief. There had been no sight of any of the three renegade wolves, and nobody on the reservation had seen them either.
There was a downside, though. A couple days after the incident, one of their mothers called Carlisle. I could hear the yelling through the phone, which Carlisle answered calmly and courteously. Yes, their child had pretty much been banished, but she should take it up with Sam. No, they were not dead. Yes, they had minor injuries, which were inflicted from self-defense. Yes, she had every right to sue him, but there wasn't enough evidence. It went on and on.
Meanwhile, Renesmee kept growing. Her growth rate was slowed down, but it was still pretty fast. Now she looked almost nine years old. Charlie came to visit nearly every day. I remembered one of the visits rather well.
"Bella, did you get color contacts?" Charlie asked. What a great time to notice my eye color change.
"Erm, no…" I answered tentatively.
"Right. But it can't just be me that noticed that your eyes are darker than usual, Bella." He said. It was pretty good if he didn't believe me. Better for him, anyways. Need to know basis. It was true, though. My eyes were pretty much black. We were planning on going hunting tonight, but at the moment, being around Charlie was pretty tough, but I could handle it.
"Gosh, I can't believe how big you've grown." He murmured to Renesmee. His eyes flickered up at Edward and me. "You, on the other hand, don't look like you've changed at all." He said shrewdly.
I felt Edward wince subtly next to me. Actually, we hadn't changed at all. I hoped Charlie didn't know how close his guess was.
Edward forced out a laugh. "We try to conserve our youth." He wasn't going to tell Charlie that he was exactly right. Charlie might pee in his pants at the very least.
Charlie raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.
"You know, I was thinking of going to the forest for a walk." I said changing the subject feebly. "You know, get some fresh air."
"Yes, that'd be great! We haven't been out too much since we came back!" Edward said over-enthusiastically. He looked relieved that we were steering the conversation away from our… vampire-ness.
I laughed to myself as we stood up. "When do you have to get home, Charlie?"
He shrugged. "Whenever, I guess."
I rolled my eyes. "Alright, then. We'll only be out for an hour. Anybody else want to go out?" I called. I was sure that anybody in the house could've heard me without shouting, but I did it for Charlie's sake.
Of course, Jacob loped forward, eagerly reaching out for Renesmee. I sighed, putting her hand in his. Alice danced downstairs, and Jasper tagged along. Seth went as well.
"Quite a family, you've got here, don't you?" Charlie said conversationally to Edward.
"Sort of." He shrugged. "Jacob and his friends mostly hang out here." He answered coolly.
We could feel the warmth of the sun, but clouds covered it as it usually was in Forks. The summer was nearly halfway over, and it got super hot some days, for Forks. Mixed in with the humidity, didn't go too well for humans. Charlie was almost panting, and he gave an audible sigh of relief when we stepped into the shade.
We continued on, into the forest. I knew my way around the forest off of the paths, but for Charlie's sake, we followed the path. Jacob and Renesmee seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were holding hands, grinning at each other occasionally.
"I'm sure we weren't that mushy." I complained to Edward softly.
He laughed. "No, I think we were. Perhaps you were simply too… absorbed in our little moments to notice." He smirked at me.
I rolled my eyes. I'm pretty sure that during my human life, Edward spent most of his time restraining him and me from going too far. That didn't seem that fair to me, come to think of it. And he's letting Renesmee and Jacob go on with their happy little relationship without saying anything.
Suddenly, I heard yelling from about fifty feet away. Alice gave a little gasp from thirty feet ahead of us. Edward's head snapped up, his black eyes focusing in at Charlie, Jacob, and Renesmee and froze. I glanced up to see Jasper next to Alice, who was tensed just like everybody else.
I frowned in confusion, because at the moment, everything looked alright. But then, I realized what had happened. Renesmee had tripped and fell on the trail, skinning her knees on the sharp rocks. My Renesmee was hurt. Our daughter was hurt, and Edward wasn't going over there? What was going on?
I started forward to go help her, but stopped before I could take one step.
I smelled the blood before I could even see it.